Un-reflecting

Bell made her way through the light forest, now alone, which might have been for the best, having had an argument with her fellow 'party members', wanting to go on while the others were keen on turning back from their 'exploration'.

She was keeping her eyes peeled for any big or little sign of a rumoured ancient civilization, the slightest hint of a relic or ruin that would give her satisfaction in both expending all the effort of getting to the remote region and being right to continue the search there for so long.

Bell had grown up into a determined and persistent young lady, who kept fit to manage the difficulties of hunting for possible treasures, but wanted to avoid having a rough time, like her hard working parents. She wished for a more relaxed life - possibly after becoming famous and or rich from a major discovery in the near future, would be nice.

So she'd set out on her own in hopes of finding something, anything really in the abandoned land, but all that land seemed to have was more and more nature; endless stretches of thin trees, long grass, and inhabited with all sorts of little critters.

There has to be a trace left of that old Empire... well, at least I hope there is...

It had honestly been a very uneventful expedition, and even Bell had felt disheartened by the lack of evidence, let alone meaningful artifacts or even harder to find precious items usually lost in dirt and time when an old civilization died.

But she still held a glimmer of hope, as she pressed onward into the well forested and forgotten hills, far from any modern civilization.

Huh, wait just a...

Bell had to back step just a little, to take a better look at something that caught her eye - a small, firstly inconsequential pool, that didn't appeared to be what it first seemed.

Is that big puddle... shimmering...?

She brushed past the small surrounding bushes and stepped over the long grass to get closer, taking in the lighter colour of the liquid pond, which showed a far cleaner sky than the overcast atmosphere that hung above Bell's head.

"Strange, it's almost glowing..."

Bell spoke to herself as she wonderingly approached it.

After a good look, she felt the need to get closer, and lent over its small edge - to be even more puzzled by her sight.

It's so odd... I mean it's slightly moving even with absolutely no breeze about... but I can't see myself at all on its mostly smooth surface...

Getting even closer, Bell kneeled down beside the wavering 'water' and looked down at it, leaning low enough that some of her long hair gently touched it, and sent tiny ripples to the edges.

She was still put off by the lack of reflection, but curiously dabbled her fingers of her right hand to make some more small waves dance across the top.

It acts like a pool of liquid... but not entirely...

It felt cool, but while her fingers were colder, they came back not at all wet, so after another curious ponder, she dabbled them into the glittering pool.

"Huh...?"

Her hand disappeared from view, even though it was only marginally in under the surface.

I've never seen anything like this... could this liquid be worth something...?

Hunting for something valuable was, in part, the whole reason for this little adventure after all, as finding a little rarity could lead to an easier life - as money did make the world go round.

I wonder how deep...

Bell dove her hand down into the 'liquid' and felt nothing solid, even right near the edge, before paddling her wrist about in it, she still ended up touching nothing.

There seems to be a bit here... so if I gather some up I could take it with... me...?

But something was wrong then - when she attempted to pull her wrist out; it suddenly didn't budge when she tried.

Bell tried again with more effort, but again she couldn't pull her bare arm back out of the cold - while also realising she also could no longer feel her fingers either.

Am I stuck on something...?! No... Wait it's worse than that...!

Bell watched with growing anxiety as her attempts to withdraw were just not working - but also as an opposite was actually starting to occur too.

I'm being pulled in...!

Bell could see her elbow now slowly begin to sink toward the pool before her, while she was seemingly powerless to stop it going under.

Even grabbing with her other hand and using all her core strength to attempt yanking it back - it didn't get a single result from her strain, and then as soon as she stopped, she suddenly lost balance on her knees and slipped further in.

"Ah!"

Bell's other hand and forearm disappeared in it, with nearly all her right arm, now gone all the way up to near her armpit, binging her face very close to the shimmering ripples too.

I'm going to go under here... whatever this stuff is... Am I going to drown...!?

As her pony-tailed dark hair had now fallen into the lightly glittering liquid as well, Bell felt it too was also slowly being slightly tugged in further too, drawing her face even closer to this unscented and now wildly rippling surface.

Another desperate effort resulted in a worse failure, as her knees then slipped on the grass and in her bad position - her face plopped straight into the coldness; giving only a total darkness to all of her senses.